Microsoft's "You find it, you keep it" campaign, which directly attacks Apple, has seen another instalment. The first one, with Lauren criticising Apple for its pricing policy and lack of choice, was met with mixed reviews, and I'm sure the second one will not be received any differently. Giampaolo disses Apple for a lack of power and being all about aesthetics.
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Member since:2005-07-09
Member since:2005-07-06
How about it actually bloodying working; show me a single application on Linux that does all what the EyeTV/Elgato does - both easy to use, setup etc.
Show me equivalents in all areas to the applications I mentioned - oops? you can't? yes that's right, there no equivalents.
You are the weakest poster - good bye!
Member since:2006-06-04
Kaiwai, I'm always glad to see your posts, you're half my age but you already know more about computers than I ever will. But I disagree with you here.
I run Mandriva 2008.1 on both my machines here in Korea (I'm from England, however), dual booted with XP and I always feel happy in Mandriva, everything is where I want it to be and there's no complication. I also feel that Microsoft OSes are toys and after using 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98SE (great little OS), a smidgin of 2000 and then moving on to XP of various "flavours" (but I started out on an Apple IIe and then played around with an Acorn Atom - both 6502 machines), Mandriva has always made me happy. KDE is great, there is no problem with viruses or malware, and on the same system (four year old Athlon with half a gigabyte of RAM, 80gig HDD, Radeon 9200SE) it just flies.
I have set up a book for a friend recently for publishing using TextMaker (from Germany, q.v.) exporting to faultless PDF (for colour separation at the printer's) after preparing the graphics with GIMP; I also used GIMP for the graphics of a web site I was asked to prepare last year - but everything on each page was hand-coded using Leafpad. It all works without a problem. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had any kind of Mandriva-related problem on this machine - XP Pro has been reinstalled several times since I put MDV 2008.1 on it.
I guess the bottom line is that if you have an OS ( perhaps with software bundles) that allows you not to search for things, experiment and make mistakes, then maybe an Apple or something similar is for you (and I would not disparage Apple, by the way - far from it!), but Linux requires you to experiment and learn. As a scientist, this seems to me to be a good thing. But Microsoft and Apple can be said to be mainly for people who like things simple, or for so-called "power users" (highly-specialised single-app experts), whereas with Linux - even with a nice GUI, like with Mandriva - you have to be willing to learn.
For myself, I have no desire to be a chest-beating Alpha Male but Mandriva beats XP into the dirt, and I would never touch Vista at all, ever. But Linux on my desktop functions perfectly and if there is a problem I become stronger as a user because I am prepared to experiment and learn.
Anyway, I'm not having a go at you, just saying that if you can have a different OS that achieves the same ends by different means then go for it. After all, if MacOS and its bundles didn't allow you to do the same as or more than Microsoft, it wouldn't be much use, now would it? Should we disparage Apple for achieving the same ends by different means, or praise them for giving us more choice?
Member since:2005-07-06
Anyway, I'm not having a go at you, just saying that if you can have a different OS that achieves the same ends by different means then go for it. After all, if MacOS and its bundles didn't allow you to do the same as or more than Microsoft, it wouldn't be much use, now would it? Should we disparage Apple for achieving the same ends by different means, or praise them for giving us more choice?
The problem I have are people who equate platform choice to a moral or intellectual deficiency of the given poster. All the posts I make are only relevant to myself and thus I never try to extrapolate my experiences to the rest of the world. All I can do is explain why something happens based on my own circumstances.
The problem as far as I see it are the number of people who equate their experiences to something that objective fact; or more correctly, that their emotionally driven opinions amount to something that can be objectively analysed.
Just look at the posts replying to mine when my opinion is that I need certain applications and only replies have been little more than ridicule.
Member since:2008-12-24
Those are applications. Like a lot of Microsoft advocates, you're real confused about the difference between an operating system and an application.
OS/X is based squarely upon Unix, therefore a close relative of Linux.
Member since:2005-07-06
Yes, and applications make or break a platform - they make a platform useful to the end user.
How is an operating system useful to me when I can't get the applications I want? do you just stare at a blank screen all day and bask in the glow of the GNOME desktop? I wish I had so much time where I didn't actually care about actually running applications on the operating system - that I can just look at it all day and have satisfaction.
Its not based on UNIX (System V being Unix), it is XNU, which is Mach/BSD and it happens to conform to the Single UNIX Specification 2003 (SUS 2003) - so it isn't UNIX based by any stretch of the imagination.
Member since:
2005-07-06
I do like Apple hardware, now that they dumped Motorola and the other crap they used to have.
But if you want a REAL OS, you have to go Linux.
Sorry Mac and MS fanboys.
A real operating system that doesn't have Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Quicken, Toast, EyeTV, iLife, iWork, iChat, numerous Mac OS X features etc. Mate, Linux is great on the server but don't delude yourself into thinking with your alpha male chest beating BS that Linux is a 'real OS'.
The day when I can go down the road and purchase software off the shelf for Linux from big name software vendors, and purchase USB devices from big name vendors will be the day when I feel that Linux has 'come of age'. Until then, enjoy hacking around trying to get things working or trying to work out why the latest kernel update has improved your ath5k support but the 8169 ethernet port has just died.